page_title: Rechtsstaat
section_title: Principles of the Rechtsstaat
hierarchical_section_title: Rechtsstaat / Principles of the Rechtsstaat
caption_attribution_description: English: fundamental ideas of democracy Deutsch: Grundgedanken der Demokratie Graphics by Jacki Ausgabepreis: 40 Pfennig First Day of Issue / Erstausgabetag: 13. August 1981 Michel-Katalog-Nr: 1105
context_page_description: Rechtsstaat is a doctrine in continental European legal thinking, originating in German jurisprudence. It can be translated into English as "rule of law", alternatively "legal state", "state of law", "state of justice", "state of rights", or "state based on justice and integrity".
  A Rechtsstaat is a "constitutional state" in which the exercise of governmental power is constrained by the law. It is closely related to "constitutionalism" while is often tied to the Anglo-American concept of the rule of law, but differs from it in that it also emphasizes what is just. Thus it is the opposite of Obrigkeitsstaat or Nichtrechtsstaat, and of Unrechtsstaat.
  In a Rechtsstaat, the power of the state is limited in order to protect citizens from the arbitrary exercise of authority. The citizens share legally based civil liberties and can use the courts.
context_section_description: The most important principles of the Rechtsstaat are:
  The state is based on the supremacy of national constitution and guarantees the safety and constitutional rights of its citizens
  Civil society is an equal partner to the state
  Separation of powers, with the executive, legislative, and judiciary branches of government limiting one another's power and providing for checks and balances
  The judicature and the executive are bound by law (not acting against the law), and the legislature is bound by constitutional principles
  Both the legislature and democracy itself are bound by elementary constitutional rights and principles
  Transparency of state acts and the requirement of providing a reason for all state acts
  Review of state decisions and state acts by independent organs, including an appeal process
  Hierarchy of laws and the requirement of clarity and definiteness
  Reliability of state actions, protection of past dispositions made in good faith against later state actions, prohibition of retroactivity
  Principle of the proportionality of state action
caption: German stamp (1981). Rechtsstaat, Fundamental Concept of Democracy – "The legislature is bound by the constitutional order, the executive and the judiciary by law and right." (Article 20(3) GG)
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